Weluwanaramaya (Sinhala: පරවාහැර වේළුවනාරාමය) is a Buddhist temple situated in Parawahera village near Kekanadura in Matara District, Sri Lanka. The ancient Parawahera Ambalama is located about 600 m south of this temple.
History
The ruins of a Stupa have been identified at a spot near the present Weluwanarama temple and some of the bricks collected from that place are presently preserved in the temple premises (Vanarathana, 1994). According to the view of Vanarathana Thera, these bricks are the same as those used to construct the Temple of the Tooth Relic building at Polonnaruwa built by King Vijayabahu I [(1055-1110 A.D.) Ranaweera, 2015; Vanarathana, 1994]. It is recorded in the Pujavaliya that Vijayabahu I constructed a Stupa named Paragam Vehera in the Ruhuna area and therefore, some believe that the ruined Stupa near the present Weluwanarama temple could be the remnants of that ancient Paragam Vehera Stupa (Vanarathana, 1994).
The temple is believed to have been destroyed due to the Portuguese invasions in the 16th century (Ranaweera, 2015). The present temple at the site was established in 1782 by a Buddhist monk named Madawala Dhammajothi Thera of the Wehelle Dhammadinna lineage (Ranaweera, 2015). The image house is said to have been constructed around 1875 (Ranaweera, 2015). The modern Stupa was erected on the temple premises in 1898 by the village devotees under the guidance of Borale Rathanapala Thera and Hitthetiye Piyadassi Thera (Ranaweera, 2015).
References
1) Ranaweera, D. D., 2015. Matara Urumaya (in Sinhala). ISBN: 978-955-30-6285-7. S. Godage & Bros. pp.207-208.
2) Vanarathana, K., 1994. Matara Puravidyathmaka Ithihasaya (In Sinhala). ISBN: 955-9325-00-0. p.160.
Attribution
#) LankaPradeepa.com extends its gratitude to V. M. Vidanapathirana for providing the necessary photographs required for this article. All the photos are published here with the permission of the author.